This volume investigates the historical and conceptual evolution of the concept of matter and its relationship to the laws of motion from the Cartesian revolution through the early modern period. The authors, Dana Jalobeanu and Peter R. Anstey, utilize a rigorous historical approach to examine how seventeenth and eighteenth-century natural philosophers grappled with the transition from mechanical philosophy to more complex physical models. By analyzing primary texts and the shifting definitions of extension and force, the work provides a framework for understanding the intellectual tensions that defined early modern science.

Experts in the history of science recognize this work as a significant contribution to the study of early modern physical thought. Scholars frequently note the academic density of the prose and the precision with which the authors navigate complex metaphysical debates.